2021 Chablis Vaudésir Grand Cru

This marked my first visit to Domaine Samuel-Billaud which was bought from the Billaud family by Faiveley. “We had to do a lot of selection before press and do a longer debourbage,” head winemaker Olivier Bailly told me. “The volume is 15-25hL/ha. We started picking around 15 September. It is a mineral and classic vintage. When you harvest by hand, you can parse out any grey rot grapes and obtain clear juice and good lees. For me, if you have good lees you can continue to work with the wine during its élevage over several months before bottling. For 2021, it is interesting to work this way. The pH is around 3.15 which is a good sign with a good spiciness compared to 2020. It is a different profile to 2017 but it is a classic Chablis. The wines are bottled under Diam 5 and 10 for the Premier Crus and Trescases corks for the Grand Crus.”